There's a Party Over Here
by Rio Madeira
Summary: From MTV's The Paper. OC. Alex and his friends get their comeuppance after the hostess of the biggest party of the year hears what they've been doing to Amanda.
1. Amanda's Ruminations

EXT. AMANDA'S HOUSE. EARLY EVENING.

CAPTION: Amanda's House 5:14 PM

INT. AMANDA'S KITCHEN. CONTINUOUS.

AMANDA sits at the table, pretending to study. GABBY is lying at her feet.

AMANDA  
So, basically, Alex and I have stopped being friends. He made it clear that he was not over losing the editor-in-chief position to me.

CUT TO the "spilled milk" scene from the last episode.

AMANDA  
At the risk of sounding arrogant, it's not my fault that I was more qualified than him. Mrs. Weiss made that decision. He ought to have learned to respect it by now.

She turns a page in her textbook.

AMANDA  
I don't understand it, though. I tried my best to keep our friendship intact, and he didn't seem interested in it at all.

She stares ahead.

AMANDA  
But you know what? It's OK. I have other friends. The rest of the staff is starting to respect me. I got into NYU. I have . . . everything I need.

She glances down at her textbook, looking a bit sad.

INT. ALEX'S LIVING ROOM. DAY.

ALEX sits around with TREVOR and DAN.

DAN  
What exactly did she say?

ALEX  
She was just, like, let's put this whole fight to the side so we can work on the paper.

TREVOR  
Like she cares about the paper. She just wants to look better than you.

DAN  
Nobody thinks she's better than you at all.

ALEX  
_She_ does. . . . Whatever. I'm over it.

**OPENING CREDITS**


	2. The Social Queen

**SCENE 1**

EXT. CYPRESS BAY HIGH. DAY.

A brief montage of exterior shots of the school.

INT. NEWSROOM. DAY.

DAN walks over to GIANA's desk.

DAN  
Hey, did you hear about the party?

GIANA  
Yeah, hasn't everyone?

DAN (TH)  
So, the latest rumour is that Nat Kaplan is throwing a post-midterm party for the seniors at her family's beach house. Nat is kind of the Cypress Bay social queen, so it's a hot story.

GIANA (TH)  
So far, it seems like she's going to invite pretty much everyone in the senior class. Nobody's actually been invited yet, but apparently she's doing it personally, so everybody's waiting to see her.

ADAM  
You don't think she could possibly fit that many people into her beach house?

ALEX  
It's a big house, Adam.

ADAM  
And this is a big senior class.

TREVOR  
Well, maybe she'll leave out a few . . .

He "casually" looks over at AMANDA. He and his friends snicker.

ALEX  
(under his breath)  
Come on, Trevor, give it a rest.

No one appears to have heard him.

DAN  
She doesn't have a choice, really . . . it's a big house, but it can't hold all the seniors _and_ Amanda's ego.

They laugh harder. ALEX gives up and feigns laughter.

TREVOR (TH)  
Yeah, I know Amanda did a good job of saving that article for the last issue, but other than that, she hasn't really changed. She's still the same bitch she always was. One good thing doesn't suddenly make her a good person.

AMANDA looks over at the clique.

AMANDA (TH)  
What I said earlier about starting to get respect from the staff . . . something tells me I may have been wrong. They're still all together, even after Mrs. Weiss separated them.

AMANDA walks over to the group.

AMANDA  
(cheerfully)  
People, I don't see you trying to meet deadline!

They quietly disperse and return to their desks, shooting her a few glares behind her back.

ADAM (TH)  
I think it's good that Amanda's taking more initiative. It shows that she's really trying to be a leader. I don't think the others like it, but I'm just so sick of all the drama in this class that I'm not even going to think about it anymore.

**SCENE 2**

EXT. CYPRESS BAY COURTYARD. DAY.

AMANDA, CASSIA, and CHARESSE sit under a tree.

AMANDA  
I don't know why everyone's making such a big deal about it. It's just a party. Anyone could have had one.

CASSIA  
I thought you and Nat were friends.

AMANDA  
We are, and I think even she'd wonder how she stirred up so much excitement.

CHARESSE  
Well, you can ask her yourself. She's coming this way.

They look up to see NAT KAPLAN (17), a petite girl with thick brown hair and sunglasses, heading in their direction with some envelopes in her hand. BRIEF PAUSE on her.

CAPTION: NAT KAPLAN: SOCIAL QUEEN

AMANDA (TH)  
Nat is the kind of person who doesn't really have a clique, but is nice to everyone. She also has the best parties, so that's pretty much why she's so popular.

NAT  
Hey, chicas!

The other three girls greet her warmly.

AMANDA  
You should be proud, Nat. Everyone's tripping all over themselves to get invited to your party.

NAT  
I know, it's ridiculous. You'd think I was paying for a class trip to frickin' DisneyWorld.

She hands out the envelopes.

NAT  
Here are yours, delivered personally, just because I like you so much.

CHARESSE  
So who else is being invited?

NAT  
Basically everyone, as far as I can tell. I'm hoping to get these all delivered by the end of the day.

CASSIA  
(warily)  
Does that include Alex Angert and his friends?

NAT  
Well, yeah. Aren't the three of you "his friends?" . . . Or should I just extract my foot from my mouth now?

CHARESSE  
Sit down, Nat.

NAT obliges.

SPEED UP on CASSIA, CHARESSE, and AMANDA chattering endlessly, interposed with various sped-up scenes from previous episodes, while NAT listens in silence.

NAT  
. . . Wow.

There is a moment of silence.

NAT  
Well, I'd better pass out the rest of these.

She holds up the envelopes as she stands up.

NAT  
See you all later, OK?

They all ad-lib goodbyes. As NAT walks back inside, she flips through her handful of envelopes and extracts several.

NAT  
All I can say is, that makes my job considerably easier.

She passes by a trash can and throws those few envelopes inside.

**COMMERCIAL BREAK**


End file.
